The Jabberwocky
by coffeemagic
Summary: A fic inspired by the awesome poem by lewis Carole Jack goes missing and the rest of the team go through hell and high water to find him.I'm not great at summaries...


_The Jabberwocky_

_Twas brillig and the slithy toves,_

_Did gyre and gimble in the wabe,_

_All mimsy were the borogoves,_

_And the mome raths outgrabe._

"I fuckin' hate the countryside" snarled Owen as he tripped over yet another tree root.

"What the _fuck_ was Jack thinkin' runnin' off out here on his own?"

"The machines showed a huge spike, Owen. He couldn't ignore it." Tosh tried to reason, pushing brambles out of her path.

"I'm with Owen on this one," put in Gwen. "He could've called us. It's got to be safer to wait a couple of minutes than go alone. I mean, last time we went out into the countryside we were all _this close_ to bein' eaten." She lifted her hand to demonstrate but brushed some nettles and swore loudly.

"And the doctor prescribes…" Owen picked up a doc leaf and handed it to her. Tosh stopped walking beside a tree.

"This is it. The tracker says this is the source"

"The tree?" Owen squinted up into the branches.

"Maybe, but it's definitely something around here. And it's not moving." Gwen attention was so firmly on rubbing the doc leaf over her stings she didn't look where she was going. With a yelp she disappeared from sight.

"Gwen!" Owen started towards where she had been standing but Tosh grabbed his arm.

"Careful! Gwen? Can you hear us? Are you ok?" Gwen's disgruntled voice replied,

"I'm fine. God knows where I am though. I only fell a few feet but now I'm in a bloody swamp! What's that about!?" Tosh and Owen cautiously approached the spot where she had stood.

"Whoa! Big pull here," said Owen hovering his foot over a patch of grass. "It's like a bloody vacuum cleaner!" Tosh moved her foot over the patch. Her shoe was sucked off her foot and vanished through the apparently solid ground. They heard a splash and a squeal from Gwen.

"Urgh! That bloody soaked me!"

"Sorry!" Tosh called down.

"Well, stop throwin' things at me and get me out of here!"

"Right. Owen you lie down and reach in. I'll hold your legs."

"Bloody servant's work," grumbled Owen, unhappy at getting his clothes dirty. "Where's Ianto when you need him?" Tosh frowned.

"Don't call him a servant. But you've got a point though; I should let him know what's going on. Wait here." She walked into a patch of thinner trees to get better reception to

radio Ianto, who had stayed with the SUV. She returned calling,

"Ok Owen. He's on his way to us." She got no response. Tosh swore and ran back to the tree but Owen was nowhere to be seen.

"Owen! Owen! Gwen? Is Owen with you?"

"Yes, he's here."

"For god's sake Owen why didn't you wait for me?" Owen sounded peeved.

"I was just tryin' to see if I could reach her. I didn't know the pull would be so strong did I? Sorry, I ballsed up. Now get us out of here!"

"And how exactly do you propose that I do that? We'll have to wait for Ianto." Owen huffed.

"Well can't you just, I dunno, stick your hand through or something, and if we can see it then we might be able to get out this way"

"I don't know…"

"Oh come on, Tosh. One hand! That won't do any harm."

"He's probably right." Added Gwen, "Just hang onto something up there."

"Well, ok. But for the record I think this is a stupid plan." Tosh knelt down, taking firm hold of a tree root, and cautiously held her fingers over the suction point. The second they touched the ground the pull became too much for her. Her hand was dragged through with such force it unseated her, breaking her grip on the root. With a shriek she tumbled through and landed with a splash on all fours beside Owen and Gwen. She got to her feet trying to keep as dry as possible. Gwen's "swamp" evaluation had been accurate. They seemed to be standing in a rainforest with a good four inches of water on the ground. Gwen handed Tosh her sodden shoe.

Gwen had landed on her feet, the water had soaked up to her knee, but apart from being splashed when the others fell through she was dry. Owen, however, had landed face down. His clothes were ruined and he was in a foul mood

"Fuck's sake Tosh we said "hold on"! How is that hard?" Tosh's temper flared.

"Well I told you to wait! Twice! How is that any harder?" she folded her arms and glared at him. He scowled back. Gwen stepped between them.

"This won't help guys. Tosh, did you say you'd radioed Ianto?"

"That's right. It'll probably take him about ten minutes to get to the tree though."

"Assuming he manages to actually find it." sneered Owen.

"Well if he does come we'll tell him not to rescue you as you don't need any help from the tea boy! You can find your own way out!" snapped Tosh. Owen opened his mouth but Gwen cut across him with an overly bright,

"Well then, while we're waiting for Ianto why don't we see what's going on down here?"

They were stood next to a large tree. Tosh started.

"That's the same tree that was up there!" Gwen nodded,

"That's what Owen thought too. I didn't really get a look at the other one. Are you sure it's the same?"

"Yes, definitely. That's the root I held onto."

"A lot of good it did us." Both girls ignored him.

"Well to me it looks like the only thing that is the same so we should probably stay around here. There might be another vacuum point or something." Tosh picked up a long stick and started to poke around in the water. Gwen followed suit, going the opposite way around the tree. A couple of times they disturbed fish like creatures which shot away glimmering electric blue in the dim forest light. They were bordering a tangle of mangroves and Tosh reached out with her stick to test the water's depth, she couldn't touch the bottom. After several minutes they conceded that the ground seemed as normal as could be expected. A splash a little way off startled them, but Owen reasoned it was probably a water rat. Gwen wasn't particularly cheered by this suggestion.

"A rat? Are you kidding me? I hate rats, why on earth people keep them as pets is beyond me."

"Look, it's there look!" Tosh crouched, pointed amongst the tangled roots and branches at a small reddish animal.

"What is that? An otter?" asked Owen.

"Somethin' like that." Replied Gwen, "I quite like it, it's cute." She made a mewing noise to it. It stiffened; sniffing in their direction then dived beneath the surface. A little trail of bubbles tracked its path out of sight.

"Not sure it liked you." Owen remarked. She punched his arm lightly.

"Well what do we do now?"

_Beware the Jabberwock my son!_

_The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!_

_Beware the JubJub bird and shun, _

_The frumius Bandersnatch._

"Perhaps we should try climbin' it." suggested Gwen gazing up into the tree. Owen jumped up and caught hold of the only low branch. It was about eight feet from the floor and he could only get a decent purchase on it when Gwen moved underneath and shoved his legs. He clambered up easily for several meters before he froze. Very slowly and carefully he began to descend towards the girls. As he neared they could tell his eyes were resolutely fixed on something in a neighbouring tree.

"Owen?" Gwen asked, "What's wrong?" he put a finger to his lips and dropped to the ground beside them. The tension made the small splash deafening.

"There's something in that tree." He whispered. He had gone rather pale and shaky "like a monkey or one of those, oh what are they called? A lemur, Sort of black and white stripy, but it's huge, and it looks nasty. Big claws. I don't think we wanna piss it off." The girls peered around the tree trying to catch sight of the animal. They didn't have to wait long. With a tremendous crash of foliage it dropped to the forest floor. Evidently it was aware of the trio and unhappy about their presence as it headed straight for their tree. It lumbered towards them on all fours, walking on the backs of its paws, its long claws curled under its body. As it approached there was a shout of surprise and Ianto fell from nowhere. His arms flailed as he tried to break his fall and caught the low branch, just managing to catch a grip on it. The momentum of the fall swung his legs forward and one foot collided with the side of creature's snout. It yelped loudly, turned and bounced off into the forest as fast as it could go. Ianto dropped onto a root that was raised above the water.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked. Gwen threw her arms around his neck.

"You saved us! You kicked it!"

"Yes, I know I kicked it, I was really meanin' 'what was it that I just kicked?' and," he looked at Tosh "why didn't you mention the whole falling through the ground thing?" she made an apologetic face.

"Didn't I say that?"

"No. you said Gwen had vanished. I assumed you meant she'd wandered off somewhere, not that she'd disappeared from the face of the earth."

"Sorry. But anyway, we don't know what that thing was- we're just glad it's gone. Thanks yan." She kissed his cheek. Owen cleared his throat loudly.

"Yeah, not that it's not _great_ to see you," he began sarcastically, "but you being here puts us in a considerably worse position. What the fuck are we gonna do now we're all down here and no-one knows where we are?" Ianto ignored him and addressed Tosh,

"Any sign of Captain Harkness yet?" she shook her head.

"No. we haven't moved from this spot so he might be around here. What's in the backpack?" Ianto swung the large grey bag off his shoulders.

"I thought I should bring some supplies. Just in case." He opened the pack showing Tosh waterproofs, food, a length of strong rope, guns, extra ammo and various other items.

"Maybe you're not _totally_ useless after all." said Owen reaching in to take a gun. "These might come in handy" He tucked it into his jeans.

"We were going to climb the tree and see if we could get back up that way." Explained Gwen, "Owen went to look for another of those vacuum point thingies in the branches. Do you want to go up too?" Ianto frowned slightly,

"Is there any point doin' it now? Even if we do find a way to get back, the whole purpose of coming here was to find Jack. If we go back without him, it's all been for nothin'." Tosh nodded,

"You've got a point there. Maybe we should go looking for him now." Ianto set down the backpack and began rummaging through it. Eventually he pulled out a length of red ribbon. Owen snorted,

"Maybe wait 'till later to make yourself pretty for Jack?" Ianto scowled at him then looped the ribbon around the tree trunk.

"In case it has escaped your notice, Owen, we are in a forest full of trees." He spoke as though addressing a small child. "We have reason to believe this tree is different to all the others, so don't you think it would be sensible to make this tree distinctive somehow? Or would you rather wait by it while the rest of us look for our captain?" Owen, annoyed by the patronising tone, began to square up to Ianto, but moved off with a sulky 'I'm in charge when Jack's not here' when he realised the Welshman was significantly taller and broader. Ianto finished tying the ribbon.

"So, which way?" he asked.

"Well," reasoned Gwen, "we can't go that way, the water gets really deep and I don't know about anyone else but I _don't_ fancy a swim right now. We could try following the sun." Owen looked scornful

"We're not trying to find a moth, Gwen!"

"Well you're in charge, you decide where we should go!" she snapped back.

"That way." Said Owen pointing through the trees "north." He strode off. Ianto and Tosh both looked at each other, mouthed 'north?' and pointed in the opposite direction to where Owen was walking. They shared a smile but chose not to comment as Owen shouted at them to 'bloody keep up!' They walked through the seemingly unending forest for hours, Owen becoming more and more irate at Jack's irresponsible disappearance.

"Oh this is a fucking joke! Jack! _Jack! _Where the fuck are you! _Jack!_" he bellowed at the trees. He was answered by a harsh cackle. Everyone jumped. A turkey sized bird was sat on a branch directly above their heads. It cackled again and cocked its head to look at them. Them team began to back away from the tree but the bird stretched out its orange wings and flapped to the next branch along, remaining right above them.

"I don't like this." Muttered Tosh, her nails digging into Ianto's forearm. Owen pulled the pistol out of his jeans.

"You can't kill it!" hissed Gwen, "it hasn't actually done anything to us!"

"I'm not going to kill it." replied Owen "I'm going to scare it away." He took aim at the trunk of the tree and fired. The bang rang through the forest but the bird, far from flying away, resumed the loud cackle then launched itself towards them. The team fled through the forest, following Owen's path through the trees. After a few minutes of running the birds call died away and they turned to see it flying back through the canopy.

"What the hell is with this place? Why does everything try to attack us?" panted Owen, out of breath from his sprint. "What sort of bird goes for people!"

"Maybe it was nestin' there." Suggested Ianto "some birds get pretty defensi-"

"Look!" cried Gwen pointing through the trees "cliffs!" They fought their way through the last of the forest to stand before sheer white cliffs. The ground under their feet became firmer and dry, blades of grass poked up through cracks in the rocky surface.

"Well at least we have something to focus on now." Said Tosh, "I suggest we walk along them, see what we can find." Ianto picked up a stone and scratched a large X into the cliff face.

"So we know where to we've been." He explained.

They walked alongside the cliff, following Owen's lead until they arrived at a small cave. Ianto pulled a torch out of his rucksack and handed it to Tosh. She peered inside.

"It's not very big. No sign of animals living in here, oh there's something at the back, hang on." She crouched down and shuffled inside "there're paintings! Little cave paintings! Come have a look at this." They all squashed into the fissure and Tosh shone her light on the back wall. Tiny figures scratched into the rock in what looked like a hunting scene. The stickmen held long javelins over their heads and rushed towards something that had been chipped away, only the face and feet were visible. The beast was twice as tall as the men. Long talons adorned its feet, and its mouth had been rendered open to reveal rows of pointed fangs.

"Christ I hope that's not accurate." Muttered Owen.

"Even if it was," reasoned Gwen, "these paintings must have been done thousands of years ago- look how crude they are. Even if that thing was real, it's long dead now."

"But," said Ianto "we don't know how evolved the people here are. They could still be livin' in caves like this and on that basis; this could've been done yesterday." The group was silent.

_He took his vorpel sword in hand,_

_Long time the manxome foe he sought._

_So rested he by the Tum Tum tree,_

_And stood awhile in thought._

"I don't recon we should stick about here too long" said Owen, "I think we should keep looking for Jack. And I think we should all be armed." The girls nodded and took the guns Ianto proffered. They cautiously left the cave.

"Is it me or is it darker out here?" asked Gwen. Tosh moaned quietly,

"Oh don't say that! I don't want to spend the night in this place!"

"We'd better hurry up then hadn't we!" replied Owen setting off along the cliffs once more. Night was falling fast and the temperature began to drop sharply.

"What time is it here? Surely we haven't been here all that long- we set off at just past nine this morning." Tosh was looking defeated and tired. She sat down on a rock and dropped her head into her hands. Ianto set down his backpack and got the food out. He pushed a sandwich into her hand and gave her a sympathetic pat on the arm.

"Do you think we should try to find some shelter?" he asked Owen. "I'm not sure a fire is a good idea, but if we can find another little cave we'll be a bit warmer." Owen nodded and pulled Gwen to her feet. Ianto put him arm around Tosh to support her and they resumed their search of the cliff.

"Is that a cave?" asked Gwen pointing up at the cliff, Tosh swung the torch up. There was an opening in the cliff face a couple of meters from the ground. Owen scrambled up the rocks to see inside.

"Looks fine to me, come on up." He moved inside and twisted around to offer his arms down to the girls. The cave smelt damp and a dark purple fungus grew on the back wall, but it provided respite from the large drops of rain that were beginning to fall. Once they were all inside the air in the small space began to warm quickly. Abandoning all pretences, Gwen snuggled up to Owen in one corner and fell asleep. Tosh turned her back on them and crawled to where Ianto sat, staring out into the darkness.

"You ok?" she whispered. He nodded and smiled wanly.

"I'm fine. You get some sleep."

"Can't get comfy." He pulled her against his chest and soon heard her breathing deepen.

Morning came earlier than Ianto expected. The sun shone directly onto his face, but it was a strong gust of wind that woke him up. He looked down at his watch but it hadn't worked since he'd fallen through the vacuum. Somehow he felt that something wasn't right, waking up without Jack- and in a cave was certainly unusual, but he still felt like there was something else wrong. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright. Tosh wasn't leaning against him anymore. Gwen and Owen were still curled up at the back of the cave, but Tosh wasn't anywhere to be seen. He leant over the edge of the cave looking for signs of her, but found none. He shook the others awake and they scrambled down the cliff calling her name. Gwen grabbed the men's arms.

"Oh! Look there!" she nodded towards a distinct trail of trampled debris leading into the forest. "That wasn't there last night! You don't suppose that thing in the painting…" she trailed off looking hopelessly at the path of destruction. Owen swallowed nervously.

"Best not to assume anything yet. Well, at least we know where we're going to now. Jack's gonna have to wait." They set off down the trail. It led deep into the trees. In some places the canopy above was so thick Ianto switched on the torch to see where they were treading. Often they would hear a crash in the forest and freeze, trying to determine the whereabouts of any possible threats, but everything seemed to be avoiding the passage of trodden and twisted foliage. After hours of walking Owen sat down on a fallen tree.

"If we don't have a rest we'll be bloody useless if she actually needs us to help her." He took the bottle of water from Ianto and peered inside. "This all we got left?" Ianto nodded. Owen returned the bottle without drinking from it. Gwen sat beside Owen on the log so Ianto went across the path to sit in the shade of a large fruit bearing tree.

"What gets me," he said after a period of silence, "Is why we didn't hear it. Whatever it was destroyed a huge amount of forest quite close to where we were sleepin', yet none of us woke up. I'm not a particularly heavy sleeper, and Tosh was lyin' right on top of me. How did I sleep through it?"

_And as in uffish thought he stood,_

_The Jabberwock with eyes of flame,_

_Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,_

_And burbled as it came!_

As Owen opened his mouth to reply they heard a low rumbling call. Terrified, the three of them dived behind the fruit tree and listened to the sound of approaching steps. Whatever it was, they could hear it was big, and strong enough to clear the jungle out of its path. With a mighty crash a tree on the opposite side of the clearing fell to the ground, its roots ripped from the soil. The creature shuffled into the glade.

"Fuck me." Whispered Owen and Gwen pushed her hand over his mouth. The animal stood eleven feet tall with shaggy brown fur and small bright red eyes. The long snout was like that of a bear, except it was unable to totally close its mouth due to the oversized teeth that glistened with saliva. It walked on two short, thick legs and the talons on its fore limbs scraped along the ground. It had no visible ears and a rancid stench radiated from the animal with each huffing breath. The three stayed frozen behind the tree as it looked up and sniffed the air. It stretched, taking hold of a branch and began to shake ferociously. Swollen black fruits rained down around them, splattering seeds and an oily red juice that smelt of turpentine over the dell.

"It eats fruit?" hissed Gwen disbelievingly. The animal dropped onto all fours and proceeded to roll around in the mush of fruit. Owen shifted his foot slightly, snapping a small twig. He tensed, ready to run, but the animal gave no indication that it had heard and continued to roll about, making a low gargling noise. Finally it got to its feet and looked around. It peered intently into the canopy. The team looked up to see one of the monkey creatures swinging into the branches above, its long tail and talons wrapping around trees and vines as it went. The beast moved silently to the trunk of the fruit tree placed a paw on each side and began to climb. Its claws appeared beside Ianto's head and, unable to move, he closed his eyes, lips moving in a silent prayer. It had climbed to almost the height of the canopy before it was spotted, but by then it was too late. With a tremendous push that shook the tree and caused more fruit to fall, it leapt into the branches and grasped the panicked animal. They dropped back to the ground and Gwen gasped in horror, hiding her face behind Owen as the creature tore its prey to shreds. Ianto was deathly pale.

Eventually it had gorged itself enough and ambled away leaving the half consumed carcass where it lay. They listened to it crash a path through the forest and when it seemed far enough away, Owen stood.

"Ok. Let's go." Gwen stood up but Ianto remained crouching, staring blankly at the mangled body in the clearing. "Ianto? You hurt?" Ianto's eyes moved slowly to Owen.

"Tosh."

"What?" Ianto's face contorted with fury.

"What do you mean 'what'? We think that thing took Tosh and we've just watched it rip that creature limb from limb! How can you-"

"Ok! Ok! I'm sorry, I know." Owen covered his face with his hands "I know. But this won't help her. We have to just assume she's ok. Assume she's here and keep looking." Ianto wiped tears from his eyes and nodded. He shouldered the bag and looked around.

"So what do we do then? Follow the animal or the original path?"

"Original path I think." Owen set off across the dell, avoiding looking at the bloodied corpse.

They followed the twisting path through the trees for hours until Gwen suddenly stopped.

"Can you smell that? It's that monster again!" her eyes were wide with fear.

"I can smell it" whispered Owen, "but I can't hear it." he crept forward to look through the trees. "The cliffs!" he hissed "we're back at the cliffs!"

_One two one two and through and through,_

_the vorpel blade went snicker snack!_

_He left it dead, and with its head,_

_He came galumphing back._

"There's a cave." Murmured Ianto. "Can you see it? Along there. Looks really big to me." Owen shifted to get a better look.

"Let's try to get closer." He hissed, and they began to move along the line of the forest, crouching in the undergrowth. The smell became stronger as they approached the crevice and they could see whitened bones littering the ground outside. Several were identifiable as human skulls and hip bones, but most were crushed beyond recognition. Ianto swallowed nervously.

"I don't think it's there. I'm going to look inside." He moved to leave the cover of the shrubs but Gwen seized his arms, pulling him off balance so he sat down hard.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You'll be killed!"

"What do you suggest we do? Wait till it comes back? Or just leave? This is what we've come here to find!" she bit her lip but still didn't let go of his Jacket. He gently moved each of her fingers and took her hand. "We have to look in there Gwen. One of us has to go and it might as well be me. You stay here, load your gun and prepare to shoot if anything happens. I promise I'll run the second as I see any sign of danger." he handed the backpack over to Owen who got out extra ammo. Ianto turned back to the cave, took the safety off his gun and broke cover. Crouching low he ran towards the entrance. Once at the cliffs he peered round into the darkness then disappeared inside. Owen and Gwen held their breaths. Minutes later he emerged. Tosh was with him, her arm around his shoulders. He half carried her over to the shelter of the bushes and dropped her into Owen's arms. "I don't think she's hurt," he panted, "Cave was full of corpses, probably thought she was dead."

"Savin' her for later, eh? Nice." Owen checked her pulse and opened Tosh's eyes. She seemed as though she was trying to wake up from a very deep sleep, but otherwise was unhurt. Gwen stiffened, her head tilted slightly.

"Can you hear that?" her eyes were very wide, "I think it's coming back!"

"We have to get away from here," said Owen "where do you think it's coming from?" Gwen pointed along the line of trees. "Right then, let's get back into the wood. Shit, she's heavier than she looks!" Owen strained to lift Tosh into his arms.

"No time!" hissed Ianto. He swept her into a rather undignified fireman's carry and ran back into the trees, Owen and Gwen following him. They had only gone a few hundred meters when the air was rent with an angry roar. The beast had evidently discovered the loss from its cave and it plunged into the forest after them. Ianto stopped running and dodged behind a tree.

"What the hell are you doing?" screamed Gwen "that thing can smell us! There's no point hiding from it!" Ianto laid Tosh down on the ground

"And there's no point in running from it either! It's faster than we are, Gwen. Even if Tosh was ok we couldn't outrun it." Gwen was on the verge of tears.

"Well what then! What can we do?" Ianto glanced at Owen who nodded slightly and pulled out his gun, Ianto did the same. Gwen blanched "But, that's not right!" she said weakly "it doesn't know any better. We can't kill an innoce-" another bloodcurdling howl cut her off, the animal was honing in fast.

"Stay there," Owen instructed, moving her by the arms behind the tree. "Get a gun and protect Tosh."

"Ready?" asked Ianto. Owen nodded,

"We should move away from here. If something happens to us the girls might still be able to get away" he patted Gwen's shoulder and gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"We'll be back in a minute. Don't worry." Gwen watched the men push through the foliage away from her. Beside her Tosh began to stir. Gwen absently brushed the dirt off her Jacket and pulled a large clump of purple fungus out of her hair. Tosh blinked, pulling herself up against the tree and rubbed her eyes. A furious roar shook the forest and she grabbed Gwen's arm.

"What's going on? Where are the boys?" As if in answer they heard Ianto shout and shots rang out. The creature roared once more and Owen bellowed something indistinct. Three more shots were fired and the forest was silent.

A couple more minutes passed with no sound. The birds and insects resumed their calls, filing the jungle with noise but they could hear nothing from the men or the monster. After what seemed like an eternity came a dragging sound. Both tensed and moved round the tree when the leaves near them began to move. Gwen let out a breathe she hadn't known she'd been holding when a particularly large leaf was pushed aside revealing Owen. She flung his arms around his neck. Ianto squeezed by her and slumped down beside Tosh,

"Oh my god! Are you ok, yan?" Gwen looked back, Ianto was soaked with blood. He waved his hand tiredly,

"I'm fine. It's not mine. Bloody thing landed on me, did my knee in." he paused to return Tosh's hug, "That's why we took so long getting back here, Owen had to help me walk" Gwen squeezed Owen,

"Aww my hero!" she teased. "Shall we get going then? We've still got Jack to find."

"I'm not sure that's an option just now." Said Tosh. Gwen turned to question her but came face to face with the tip of a spear and the painted face of a warrior.

_Oh hast thou slain the Jabberwock?_

_Come into my arms my beamish boy._

_Oh frabjous day! Calloh! Callay!_

_He chortled in his joy._

The tribesmen surrounded the small group and began to march them through the forest in the direction of the dead creature. When they arrived at the immense carcass the men clashed their spears together and chanted in unison.

"I hope to Christ we didn't just kill one of their gods." Muttered Owen. Ianto shifted on his hurt leg and the spears all pointed to him. He put his hands up. The man in the most colourful paint approached and stood before him. He shouted a question in a guttural tongue and Ianto just shook his head mutely. The tribesman grasped the front of Ianto's blood soaked shirt and pointed to the creature's corpse. Ianto was too frightened to respond and the warrior grasped Owen instead. He shook him ferociously and screamed the strange language. Owen panicked and pointed at Ianto,

"He killed it."

"You bastard!" he shouted and made to lunge at Owen, but he was grasped by the tribesmen and pulled over to the body. They stood him at the head and a young man crouched, dipping his finger in the rapidly drying blood. He straightened up, and pushed his bloodied hand against Ianto's cheek, drawing lines and swirls. He turned back to the other young men and cracked a joke indicating Ianto's shirt. The oldest of the tribesmen hit his shoulder with the side of his spear and, with a guilty look, he retreated to the others. The men took a circle formation around Ianto, spears pointed to the ground at his feet. A chant began as the eldest warrior approached. He placed a hand on each of Ianto's shoulders and spoke solemnly to him. Ianto, not understanding a word looked to the others for reassurance. Without warning the tribesman threw his arms around him, embracing him like a son. He took firm hold of Ianto's hand and led him off into the forest. Not wanting to anger the spear bearers, Ianto allowed himself to be steered away, but looked back to make sure the others were following. They trailed behind, the young men chattering at them, their smiling faces full of interest and excitement. Tosh seemed particularly appealing and several of the men were pushing each other to walk beside her. Occasionally they would pick up a flower or leaf to show her, and explained its properties in their own tongue. One of them tentatively held out a piece of the purple fungus. He mimed breathing it in and falling asleep, much to the amusement of his friends.

"Where are we going?" asked Owen loudly and slowly. The men all beamed and nodded.

"no." he said, exasperated, "where." He waved his hands around, "are we," he patted his chest and pointed to the men, "going?" he walked his fingers across his palm. The men fell about laughing, walking their fingers across their hands, chattering in their own tongue. Owen huffed, outraged by the laughter. Tosh had a go. She took one of the men's arms and said clearly,

"We," indicating the two of them, "go," she held her hands to the front demonstrating the path they were following, "where?" she shrugged sweeping her hands around signifying the forest around them.

"Kraamok" he replied happily.

"Kramok?" he nodded and crouched down, pointing to the path. He picked up four small twigs and drove them into the dirt. He pulled the tips together to form a tepee and rested leaves against it.

"Kraamok."

"Gwen! Owen!" The two were walking up ahead, "They're taking us to their camp!"

"Do I gather from your tone that you think this is in someway a good thing?" asked Owen dryly. Tosh scowled at him,

"Yes, actually. If they don't kill us, and it doesn't look like their going to, they might provide a bit of food and shelter for us _and_ they might have seen Jack."

"Yak!" cried one of the tribesmen, Gwen caught his arm,

"Have you met Jack?" he stared blankly at her then repeated,

"Yak." Tosh turned to the man who had made her the miniature tent.

"Jack Harkness," she enunciated carefully "at kramok?" he beamed, delighted to have taught her something and nodded furiously.

"Catain Yak Haknas kraamok ti ana."

The trees began to thin as they came to a large stream. The leader stopped and barked instructions at his team. Several young me ran forward and bodily lifted Ianto onto their shoulders. He yelped but stopped struggling as they waded into the river, carefully holding him above the water. The chief was carried across in much the same way. The talkative young warrior swept Tosh into his arms and waded over, she clung to his neck, rather alarmed.

"Suppose we'll just get ourselves across then." Said Owen, grumpily eying the muddy water.

"Oh come on" said Gwen wading out into the waist deep water after the rapidly disappearing tribesmen.

After walking for a few more minutes on the other side of the river, the trees began to thin and brightly coloured tents came into view. Women ran forward to greet the men but stopped short at the sight of Ianto and began to whisper to each other. The team were led to the largest tepee and signalled to sit on discs of wood surrounding the fire. The chief sat on the largest piece of wood and clapped his hands. A small girl handed him a crudely carved wooden goblet then crouched beside him, sucking her fingers and staring at the newcomers. He spoke over the sloshing liquid and made a series of hand gestures. Finally he sipped the liquid and passed the cup to Ianto, motioning with a smile for him to drink. Ianto drank and reflexively pulled a face. He was clearly battling the compulsion to spit it out, but he managed to swallow. The chief chuckled and indicated for him to pass it along. With a slightly vindictive smile he forced the cup into Owen's hands.

"Drink up now, Owen. Wouldn't want to get anyone in trouble with a strange tribe now would you?" he hissed. Owen defiantly took a huge mouthful and immediately spat it out into the fire. The chief roared with laughter.

"That's fuckin' blood! What's wrong with these people?" said Owen disgusted, Tosh hit him.

"Don't be disrespectful," she whispered. He looked incredulously at her

"Tosh, I just drank blood. _Blood_!" Before a real argument could start the tent flaps opened and Jack ducked in. Gwen jumped up to hug him, then thumped his chest.

"How could you just wander off Jack? Do you have any idea what we've been through to find you!" he pulled her back into a hug and then moved to the waiting Tosh.

"I'm sorry guys, but I couldn't ignore the readings could I? I had to go and check it out. I didn't expect to fall through the floor and get cut off from you guys." He finished shaking Owen's hand and looked up to Ianto. He grinned "since when have you been a warrior?"

"Sorry?"

"These marks," he said stroking Ianto's cheek, "they mean you're a great warrior. What happened?"

"Oh we, er, killed this creature. The locals seem pretty grateful." Explained Owen. Ianto looked at him.

"We? What we? I didn't hear a 'we' when we thought the tribe was gonna kill us! And, come to think of it, there wasn't much of a 'we' when it came to actually shootin' the thing!" Owen looked ruffled

"Well, alright. My gun, sorta, jammed, so Ianto was the one who actually, well, you know, did the shooting. But it could've been either of us! Was just, bad luck, that's all." Jack chuckled and pulled Ianto into a warm hug.

"Wow, my hero. I guess you get to choose what happens now then. You wanna stay here for a bit, or go back to the hub?"

"Amazingly," said Ianto dryly "I'd quite like to go home."

They were given an armed escort through the forest. Jack had encountered the suction points before and knew they often reversed; it had only been curiosity about the new world that had led him to stray from the tree. Sure enough, when they arrived the ribbon Ianto had tied was stretched taught, straining to an invisible point above them. Gwen threw up a stick and it vanished in midair.

"Who wants to go first then?" said Tosh nervously.

"Bags not me!" shouted Gwen.

"Well it's not gonna be me." Said Owen, picking up another stick and moving it forward to see where the pull started. Ianto, who still hadn't quite forgiven him from earlier, stepped forward and gave him a hard shove. Owen stumbled forward, was whipped into the air and disappeared. Gwen gave Ianto a reproachful look. He shrugged.

"Someone had to go first."

_Twas brillig and the slithy toves,_

_Did gyre and gimble in the wabe._

_All mimsy were the borogoves,_

_And the mome raths outgrabe._

Three months later…

"Is this the place?" asked Gwen who was driving the SUV in Jack's absence.

"That's right," answered Tosh "warehouse 4." Gwen parked the vehicle and stepped out. Tosh and Owen followed suit. Right she said checking her handheld monitor. The disturbance should be just through those doors."

"Right." Said Owen, taking charge, "Guns up girls. Tosh, to the left. Gwen, go right. On my count. One, two… three!" he kicked the doors open and vanished from sight. "I don't sodding believe this" came his disgruntled voice.


End file.
